The NBA’s end-of-season awards voting is just as divisive of a time within the league’s calendar as any other.

And not just because of the actual outcomes, but the voting results for each award create arguments within themselves.

Lakers fans passionately defended franchise Luka Doncic, believing that he should’ve placed higher than fourth in the voting for league MVP that was awarded to Thunder superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander for the second consecutive season. 

Or that Doncic should’ve unanimously been an All-NBA first team selection instead of receiving 91 first-team votes and nine second-team votes.

Voters defend why they made certain choices, such as Justin Termine of SiriusXM explaining why he was the lone voter to leave Victor Wembanyama off his All-NBA first team, voting him second. 

The debates about “snubs” are part of the NBA awards’s annual cycle. 

But when the voting results for Coach of the Year was announced on Tuesday, revealing that Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla received the honor, it also showed that Lakers coach JJ Redick finished seventh in voting after receiving three third-places votes. 

And was a completely fair spot for Redick to finish at. 

Redick finishing seventh wasn’t a snub.

While arguments could be made that he should’ve received more votes, Redick finished with the proper range in the voting.

Oftentimes, Coach of the Year goes to the coach who led the highest overachivers of the season. 

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And the Lakers were certainly one of the league’s biggest overachievers in context with their preseason expectations.

But the finalist for Coach of the Year – Muzzulla, Pistons’ J.B. Bickerstaff and Spurs’ Mitch Johnson – led each of their teams to even more overachieving seasons than Redick did for the Lakers.

Externally, the Celtics were expected to treat 2025-26 as a “gap” year after the Achilles tear Jayson Tatum suffered last 2025. The Celtics responded with a 56-win season for the second-best record in the Eastern Conference and fourth-best record in the league despite Boston’s roster turnover and Tatum only playing 16 regular season games.

The Pistons were expected to be a playoff team, but not the No. 1 seed in the East they finished the regular season at, winning 13 more games than their preseason over/under. 

The Spurs went from being viewed as a potential play-in team in the preseason to the second-best team in the league during the regular season, winning 18 more games than their preseason over/under. 

Similar cases exist for Hornets coach Charles Lee and Suns coach Jordon Ott, who finished fourth and fifth in the voting, respectively. They both led their teams to postseason play after not being expected to be a factor in those conversations during the preseason.

This doesn’t take away from the season Redick and his coaching staff had. 

Redick led the Lakers to a 53-win season despite his best players in Luka Doncic (18), LeBron James (22) and Austin Reaves (31) all missing a significant amount of regular season games.

Despite the depth of the roster lacking compared to the team’s around the West. 

Redick was just as big of a part in the Lakers’ success, which included winning seven more games than their preseason over/under, as any other party. 

But the finalists for the award had clear cut cases for being above Redick based on their teams’ overachieving seasons. 

Finishing in the No. 4-7 range felt like the best-case scenario for Redick.

And that doesn’t take away from what he’s achieved in his short time as a coach. 

He’s shown through back-to-back 50-win seasons that he’s one of the best coaches at scheming defensively, helping the Lakers outperform expectations on that end two seasons in a row. 

Redick has mostly maximized the roster in back-to-back seasons, getting the most as reasonably expected. 

He should be in consideration for Coach of the Year for years to come. 

There were just other coaches who had better cases.

The Los Angeles Clippers are on the clock. They have a potential franchise-altering decision to make on how creative they will get this summer with the rights to the No. 5 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft.

A lot will factor into their moves including what they will do with superstar Kawhi Leonard, but it seems a trade is evitable. Their options are either moving on from Leonard and trading him for draft capital or good players, which seems unlikely.

During an appearance on Third Apron Podcast with Yossi Gozlan, Law Murray — the Clippers beat writer for The Athletic — said its plausible they will double down on the Leonard era and draft a solid prospect or trade the No. 5 pick for "ready-now" assets.

"The best case is the Clippers just keeping Kawhi and making it work, because Kawhi is clearly the best of those players," Murray said. "And I don't think that draft capital is worth trading him for the dudes who would be coming back. Like the floor of those dudes are in the basement. That's a problem."

With the Clippers picking No. 5, they need to find a replacement for their former starting center Ivica Zubac, who they traded during the season to the Indiana Pacers.

In addition, they need to find a player who is young, athletic and a playmaker who can both score and facilitate the Clipper offense. They went out and got a player who does that in Darius Garland who was acquired in a trade with the Cleveland Cavaliers for James Harden.

The Clippers have been linked to a number of guard prospects in this year's draft class.

USA TODAY Sports' Bryan Kalbrosky has the Clippers going with Kingston Flemings, the 19-year-old guard out of Houston, with the draft's fifth overall selection. Kalbrosky doesn't expect it to take long for Flemings' name to be called. The Houston guard stands at 6-foot-3 with a 6-foot-4 wingspan.

"The Clippers received this pick from the Indiana Pacers and when they are on the clock at No. 5 overall, look for them to potentially call on Houston freshman Kingston Flemings. The All-Big 12 guard has several games when he has recorded at least three steals, notching eight against Arizona State earlier this season," Kalbrosky wrote. "He scored 42 points against No. 11 Texas Tech on Jan. 24. Flemings helped lead Houston to the Sweet 16, and with highs as high as his were this season, it will not take long for him to hear his name called on draft night. Flemings measured with a 40.5-inch max vertical and elite speed across all his agility testing."

Here are sports experts' mock draft predictions for the Clippers:

In the NBA, overcoming a 3-2 deficit is notoriously difficult. But it has been done.

In 1969, the Boston Celtics trailed the Los Angeles Lakers. After dropping the first two games, the Celtics tied the series before falling in a 3-2 hole.

The Celtics won the final two games, giving Bill Russell his swan song. Russell started is career with the Celtics in 1956 before retiring after the 1969 Finals. From 1966-1969 he served as player-coach. Over 13 seasons, Russell and the Celtics won 11 titles.

The 1969 Finals was also the first year to offer a Finals MVP. The winner was Jerry West of the Los Angeles Lakers. This was the only time that the MVP award was given to a player on the losing team.

The 3-2 comeback has happened a couple of others, though it is not common. Two games can be daunting.

The Spurs return home for Game 6. And that should be the only thing on their mind. They need a full team effort to force a Game 7. They have a plan which requires flawless execution.

The good news they know what needs to be done, and they have the skills to accomplish it.

Go Spurs Go!

Welcome to the Thread. Join in the conversation, start your own discussion, and share your thoughts. This is the Spurs community, your Spurs community. Thanks for being here.

Our community guidelines apply which should remind everyone to be cool, avoid personal attacks, not to troll and to watch the language.

Good morning, BBN!

Today is the day we find out exactly which players will stay in the NBA Draft and which will officially declare for it.

Obviously, all eyes are on Milan Momcilovic for Kentucky.

If the Cats can convince him to come back for this year, that gives BBN the spark plug it needs to get excited about the coming season.

However, it looks like the Arizona Wildcats have become a contender for Momcilovic because they believe Koa Peat will stay in the draft. St. John’s has also been heavily in the mix.

If the Cats can’t land Momcilovic, their options are looking tigher and tigher to fill their last roster spots.

Allen Graves was another one to potentially watch out for, but with first-round projections, it seems he’ll be staying in the Draft, same with Tounde Yessoufou.

For what it’s worth, Mike Rutherford of Card Chronicle and SB Nation thinks Momcilovic returns to school and signs with Kentucky.

A big day for BBN. Do you think Momcilovic stays? If he doesn’t, do you think he’ll commit to UK?

Tweet of the Day

Things you love to see.

Headlines

Change of Direction Leads Cats Into NCAA Tournament – UK Athletics

Bat Cats have rallied; now, anything is possible!

Wildcats Set for Start of NCAA East First Round on Home Turf – UK Athletics

Good luck, UK Track and Field!

Sources: NCAA denies reinstatement for Texas Tech QB Sorsby – ESPN

This is probably the most intriguing case I’ve seen in sports in a while.

Jessica Pegula suffers first-round upset by Kimberly Birrell in French Open – Yahoo Sports

Exciting match!

It’s time for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to be the MVP: Thunder need SGA to step up vs. Spurs – CBS Sports

You’ll know if he did this morning, but I’m excited to see SGA, hopefully, step up.

Texans give star WR Nico Collins raise in reworked deal – ESPN

Well-deserved.

Mauricio Pochettino’s USMNT World Cup squad is officially revealed– Yahoo Sports

Excited for the World Cup!

‘They were not going to tank’: Jerome Bettis supports Steelers’ decision to re-sign Aaron Rodgers – CBS Sports

I respect it.

Sources: Kenny Atkinson to return as Cavaliers head coach – ESPN

A tad surprising.

The longer Seattle waits on a Devon Witherspoon contract extension, the pricier it gets – CBS Sports

Agreed, lock him down!

On 7^th Ave., outside the arena that will host its first NBA Finals game in 27 years, fans poured onto the streets with brooms. They climbed streetlamps and scaffolding and withstood a fine rain that fell all night.

On the mayor’s smartphone — with a hat tip to the New York City Department of Sanitation — a well-timed troll was posted in 43 total characters.

In Harlem, a smattering of “Let’s go Knicks” chants could be heard deep into the night Monday, May 25, well after the New York Knicks demolished the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference finals.

But now that New York (and its fans) have this time to sit back and scout their future opponent, whom should they prefer to face: the Oklahoma City Thunder or the San Antonio Spurs?

Though the Knicks appear likely to enter the NBA Finals as underdogs regardless of opponent, the answer is the Spurs, the primary reason being San Antonio’s inexperience in the playoffs.

“The Rockets are realistic championship contenders after this trade – and that’s the whole reason the deal happened.” – Tim McMahon

“This elevates them to championship contention… Wouldn’t surprise me at all to see them in the Western Conference Finals… The Houston Rockets are instant title contenders.” – Stephen A. Smith

“When you put Kevin Durant on any basketball team, immediately they become right into the mix of contenders.” – Kenny Smith

These were just some of the national media reactions to the Houston Rockets acquiring Kevin Durant in a “blockbuster” trade with the Phoenix Suns last summer. The reactions weren’t surprising, as many of them had been clamoring for the deal from the moment the Rockets were eliminated by Golden State in Round 1 of the 2025 playoffs. However one writer, from a humble but legendary blog in its own right, was far less enthusiastic of the prospect of trading away the leading scorer and the defensive heartbeat of a 52-win team that had just increased its win total from the previous season by 19 games, only to lose to a far more experienced team in playoffs.

“Kevin Durant is no doubt one of the greatest scorers the game has ever seen, and even at the age of 37, he can still get it done. But he is 37, and in the last three seasons, he has missed 62 total games due to injury. Kevin Durant going to a team that will depend on his availability in order to compete for a championship likely will suffer the fate of… well the Phoenix Suns….Keep in mind that whoever trades for Kevin Durant will also have to give a contract extension … Paying a nearly 40-year-old Kevin Durant $60 million… These are the types of moves only bad teams make.” – Nick Stevenson

To be fair, the Rockets extension of Kevin Durant ended up being an average of $45-million per year, which under the circumstances was a very prudent move by them. So, in that regard, I was wrong. The argument could be made I was wrong about the risk of Kevin Durant’s injury history… until I wasn’t.

At the age of 37, Kevin Durant played in 78 regular season games in 2025-2026. That is the most games played by him since the 2013-2014 campaign. In those 78 games, he led the Rockets in scoring (26.0 ppg), he led them in minutes played (36.4 mpg), and he led them in field goal percentage, three-point percentage, and true shooting percentage. In the regular seaso,n he was everything as advertised on the court… a bucket. Early on, he even seemed to be willing to take on more of a leadership role amongst the young group surrounding him. Then came February.

That’s when the internet became suspicious that KD was using a burner account to trash his teammates. Wherever you land on this conspiracy, the fact that it’s even remotely believable speaks volumes. By that time, the Rockets were in the midst of losing games that they shouldn’t, blowing big leads, and proving themselves to be their most awful in the most critical moments of games. The one thing the national media told us was the reason the Rockets needed KD for was apparently taken as gospel by the coaches and players who seemed to have no other plan in crunch time other than, force the ball to Durant, then stand and watch.

There were some games where the strategy worked out, but early in the season, even when the Rockets were winning games at a high clip, it was clear that simply depending on Kevin Durant to bail you out in clutch situations was not a winning formula against the upper echelon in the league. The Rockets were not winning games against the best of the best because their offense became stagnant, predictable, and too often there was a lack of execution. This problem is not all on Kevin Durant, but throughout the entire season, he unfortunately never became a part of the solution either. The key injuries to Fred VanVleet and Steven Adams were contributing factors as well. Therefore, going into the playoffs it was clear that the Rockets were going to have no choice but to rely heavily on the iso creation of Kevin Durant to win playoff games, until…

On April 17, 2026, the Houston Chronicle reported that Kevin Durant was “Questionable” for the playoff opener against the Lakers, with a knee injury he reportedly got in a team practice, colliding with a teammate trying recover a loose ball going out of bounds. He would indeed miss Game 1 of that series, play 41 minutes in Game 2, scoring 20 of his 23 points in the first half, then would proceed to miss the last 3 games of the series with an ankle injury. As you well know, the Rockets lost the series in six games, averaging 98.6 points per game.

Those are all of the facts, sprinkled with some opinions from myself and others who cover the sport. Let’s be clear, the book is not closed on whether the trade for Kevin Durant was the right move. Not after just one season when Kevin Durant is at least contractually, going to be playing for the Rockets for two more years. However, for 2025-2026, we have to admit that this team and the impact that Kevin Durant would have, fell far short of expectations, or the expectations were unreasonable in the first place.

Whether you are in the camp of the national media who crowned the Rockets immediate contenders, or you were amongst those who were cautious if not skeptical… the fact is none of us are right and none of us are wrong. Not yet anyway, but those of us who were skeptical are very close to looking as if we were right. As more trade rumors continue to surround the Rockets this offseason, with names such as Kyrie Irving and Jaylen Brown being floated, it’s my opinion that any trade involving Kevin Durant would be an admission that acquiring him in the first place was a mistake. An even scarier thought is any trade that doesn’t include him will mean giving up more young talent for an older player to pair with a now 38-year-old Kevin Durant coming off yet another injury that cut his season short. Needless to say, Rafael Stone has work to do.

If you believed Kevin Durant made the Rockets instant contenders, then 2025-2026 was a failed season in your eyes. If you were skeptical that 37-year-old with extensive injury history could be counted on to put a team on his back and carry them to a championship, this is still a failed season in your eyes. It is still my opinion that in a perfect world, carrying this team on his back offensively was not what he was brought here for. At least it shouldn’t have been what he was brought here for. He should have been the compliment to Alperen and Amen leading this team. That’s not what happened, and if what did happen was the plan all along, then once again, it’s time to start holding the decision makers for this team to the fire.

Kevin Durant wraps up our player season in review series. It was a very disappointing end to the season, but now is the time to look ahead. Let the offseason truly begin! As always, thank you to the TDS faithful for rocking with us through thick and thin. We will continue to be here with you breaking down all the speculation, rumors, and news when it breaks. Go Rockets!

Entering his third season as a Celtic, Jordan Walsh needed to make a statement. 

After a rough second year in the Summer League and spot opportunities in Year 2, Walsh had a massive opportunity to crack the rotation in Jayson Tatum’s absence. Early on, it didn’t feel like those opportunities were coming Jordan’s way, and then he hit a corner dagger against Orlando on Nov. 9.

That shot set Walsh on the path to a solid season as a 3&D wing, earning 25 starts and 68 appearances, while establishing himself as the team’s go-to defender against opposing stars.

Walsh finished the regular season guarding star-caliber players 30.74% of the time, placing him in the 99th percentile (7th out of 523 players according to BBall Index).  

Let’s look back on Walsh’s season, and what’s to come for the 22-year-old. 

The Regular Season Breakout 

The two biggest things that stood out about Walsh’s season were his defense and his 3-point shooting. 

Defensively, Walsh made a legitimate impact on a team that was ranked fourth in defensive rating and first in opponent points allowed. 

Two nights after the Orlando shot, Walsh guarded Tyrese Maxey in Philly for six minutes, holding him to 1-of-9 shooting. The very next night, it started the chain of 16 consecutive starts. The feeling was that Walsh was quickly establishing himself as a legitimate starting wing for the first time in his NBA career. 

James Harden, Cade Cunningham and Paolo Banchero were all in the top-5 of Walsh’s list for most common matchups, and he often left with passing marks against his greatest challenges. There were even some Victor Wembanyama minutes (3:24 to be exact). Walsh’s versatility was finally on display. 

As a perimeter player, what was once a huge point of emphasis in his game actually grew into a strength. 

Walsh wasn’t a high-volume shooter by any stretch, averaging 1.8 attempts per game and 125 attempts in total, but when he fired them off, it became a reliable sight to see him drain it. He shot 38% on all threes, 42% on catch-and-shoot looks and 40% from the corners. 

Something that also flies under the radar but was an important part to Walsh’s regular season success was his impact crashing the glass. For a team that heavily emphasized rebounding from all positions after a frontcourt overhaul, Walsh emerged as one of their best glass-crashers from the wings, averaging 4 rebounds per game. 

After Walsh’s string of starting appearances, he saw a drop in his time on the floor as other starting combinations began to take shape, particularly with the return of Jayson Tatum. After Tatum returned on March 6, Walsh had eight DNPs for the month, though he’d finish the season with starts in the last three games. 

Notable season highlights include a perfect 100% shooting night on eight attempts against the Wizards on Dec. 4, which ended with a career-high 22 points, a 6-for-7 shooting night with four threes against the Lakers on Dec. 5, and double-doubles in wins against the Cavaliers (Nov. 30) and Clippers (Jan. 3). 

Limited postseason opportunities mar regular season progress 

A favorite for minutes off the bench after a promising sample size defending Tyrese Maxey, Walsh ultimately found himself ninth in playoff minutes. 

Those minutes fluctuated to as high as 19 in Game 6, and to as low as a shade under 5 minutes in Game 7. 

Walsh played the second most minutes on Maxey behind Derrick White, and Maxey shot 47% with two turnovers and one blocked shot during that matchup. Among all Sixers matched up with Walsh, he held them to a 41% defensive field goal percentage for the series, forced four turnovers and blocked two shots. 

From what we saw, his defensive impact mostly held up, though Maxey proved to be a more difficult assignment than what we saw in the two regular season games where Walsh matched up on him. 

Most disappointing was a significant dropoff in his low-volume scoring efficiency, particularly from the 3-point line. Walsh shot just 2-of-12 on his 3-point tries and was an overall 21% shooter, ending the season with two missed threes and no other counting stats in his brief Game 7 appearance.

With the season on the line and Jayson Tatum out, the Celtics put more trust in Baylor Scheuermann (22 minutes) and Hugo González (13 minutes) to round out the rotation.

Looking Ahead 

What felt like his last chance to crack the rotation ended in restored faith in Walsh’s future prospects with Boston. 

The Celtics have a lot of wing options on the bench, but Walsh has his own identity, and with a club option that’s a team-friendly $2.4 million cap hit, it’s likely the Celtics will retain his services at a low-cost, or look to even extend him now. 

A seismic change could possibly warrant a choice between picking up the options of either Walsh or Ron Harper Jr., but with both displaying different types of upside as rotation contributors, it’s a good bet to assume they both find themselves on the Opening Night roster. 

Walsh needed a chance to show what two seasons riding the bench did for him, and he got it. We saw some promising signs from the 38th overall pick, who is looking like another quality late-draft find from Brad Stevens.